Team hears winter wake-up call, takes five of six games

  JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Dan
Gadzuric protects the ball from two North Carolina players
during a game on Dec. 23.

By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff Going into winter break the UCLA men’s
basketball team was clearly struggling at 2-3, reeling from losses
to Cal State Northridge and Georgia Tech. And things didn’t
look good on the horizon as they were set to face three difficult
opponents in UC Irvine, No. 14 North Carolina and Purdue. But
boosted by their impressive 87-82 victory against the Boilermakers
and their sweep of the Washington schools, the Bruins (7-4, 2-0
Pac-10) have won five of their last six games and seem to have
righted the ship. UCLA senior point guard Earl Watson was asked
what the difference has been from the current team and the team
that began the season. “I don’t want to make excuses
but before we were playing once a week,” said Watson, the
team’s leader. “I don’t think that was a smart
thing to do. But now I think everyone understands that we
can’t come out and depend on our talent. We have to put in a
lot of work, a lot of effort.” The team has also improved its
transition and half-court defense, is playing more unselfish and is
getting some big nights out of center Dan Gadzuric and forward Matt
Barnes.

Dec. 16: UCLA 65, Irvine 60 The Bruins came oh-so-close to
losing to yet another mid-major program (see Cal State Northridge)
when they faced UC Irvine in Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins had an
11-point second-half lead shrink to one before pulling away in the
final minute to escape with a 65-60 victory. UCLA did not score a
basket from the 12-minute mark to 2:30 left in the game. In all,
UCLA shot an ice cold 35 percent (20 of 57) from the field. Bruin
forward Matt Barnes, who did not start this game, made the
difference. The forward came off the bench to score a season-high
16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. But more importantly, his jump
hook along the baseline with 47 seconds left gave UCLA some
breathing room at 61-58. Irvine was led by talented 7-foot Adam
Parada, who came off the bench to score 14 points and intimidated
several shots in the paint. Despite UCLA’s continued
struggles against unheralded teams, Bruin head coach Steve Lavin
thought the game was a step in the right direction. “This was
a positive step for our team,” he said. “We
didn’t shoot the ball well offensively, but we found a way to
grind out a win.”

Dec. 23: UNC 80, UCLA 70 Before a sold out Pauley Pavilion and a
national television audience, the Bruins started the game terribly,
came roaring back with a ferocious second-half comeback, and
eventually succumbed in the waning moments to lose to No. 14 North
Carolina 80-70. UCLA started the game missing its first 10 field
goal attempts. They didn’t score a field goal until the 13:05
mark when senior guard Earl Watson buried a three from the
baseline. While the Bruins couldn’t find the basket, the Tar
Heels jumped out to an 11-0 lead. They led by as many as 19 points
in the first half as UCLA shot just 30 percent in the first half.
It looked like North Carolina would cruise as they took a 46-30
lead at halftime. A different UCLA team emerged in the second half.
This Bruin team came out playing tough defense, highlighted by a
suffocating full-court press that had North Carolina throwing the
ball every which way. At one point, Carolina forward Jason Capel
tossed an errant pass by teammate Kris Lang that landed in the
hands of head coach Matt Doherty. Watson, who finished with a
career-high 30 points and no turnovers, and Barnes, who finished
with 18 points and 10 rebounds, spearheaded the charge. With the
crowd involved, UCLA tied Carolina at 56 at the 7:59 mark. The roof
of Pauley almost blew off when Watson made two free throws to give
the Bruins their first lead of the game a minute later. Shortly
thereafter North Carolina figured out the press and iced the game,
making 16 of its last 17 free throws. “Give our guys credit
for being mentally tough,” Doherty said. “UCLA had a
great run and the crowd behind them. We weathered the
storm.”

Dec. 30: UCLA 87, Purdue 82 Without a doubt, this was
UCLA’s most impressive victory of the young season. Fresh
from their defeat to North Carolina and their recent lethargic
play, many put this game into the UCLA loss column before it
started. Surely these inconsistent Bruins couldn’t travel to
West Lafayette, Ind. and hostile Mackey Arena and get a victory? In
this unpredictable UCLA season you should expect the unexpected.
And that’s what happened. Behind the dominating play of
Gadzuric, who finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and six
powerful dunks, and hot-shooting Jason Kapono, who finished with 22
points, UCLA built a 17-point lead. But Purdue, which rarely loses
at home (they had won 53 of their last 56 home games), came back to
cut UCLA’s lead to 82-80 with 1:49 left. UCLA made five of
its next eight free throws to seal the win. This victory is sure
not to go unnoticed when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee
selects its 64 schools in March. The breakout performance by
UCLA’s big man won’t go unnoticed either. Gadzuric was
just one game removed from a disappointing performance against
7-foot North Carolina center Brendan Haywood. Against Haywood and
the Tar Heels, Gadzuric had just seven points on two of 10
shooting. “In the past three or four games, Dan had been
floating outside, taking 15-footers and crazy shots like
that,” Kapono said. “Now, he was just posting up strong
inside where he was getting dunks, power layups, stuff like
that.”

Jan. 4: UCLA 86, Washington 64 In this up and down season, UCLA
gave a glimpse of how dominating it could be in the first half
against Washington. A steady diet of Gadzuric, who ended up with 19
points, 16 rebounds, and four blocks, and a devastating full court
press helped UCLA grab a 46-19 lead at halftime. The Bruins came
back to earth in the second half as they were outscored 48-37 as
they won their home conference opener 86-64. The story of this game
was Gadzuric’s strong play inside. The Huskies had no answer
for the big man. “He was unbelievable,” Watson said.
“Best big man in the country, in my opinion. He has things in
his arsenal that people haven’t even seen yet.”
UCLA’s 1-2-1-1 full-court press, which the team has run since
the North Carolina game, was also effective. The Bruins had 13
steals and forced Washington into 23 turnovers. When the Huskies
got the ball over midcourt, UCLA made it tough for them to find the
basket. Washington shot just 36 percent from the field in the game,
the lowest UCLA has held an opponent to all year.